What are the current ITC review times (December)

LooseMoose

Hey, I have a new app near completion that I would like to see on the app store before Christmas.
With the shut down of iTunes Connect on the 21st, that only leaves about 19 days from today for it do be accepted.

Does anyone have experience with December review times? I'd love to hear about it. Thanks

SlickZero

In my experience, December is the worst month to try and release a game. You're in direct competition with all the major companies, and their major titles that get pushed, and discounted all month. And the week long shutdown doesn't help.

Review times are usually in line with the normal 7-10 day wait to go into review.

RP

Straight up. Expect delays to the norm. Especially with the iTunes connect closure, this will mean more traffic than usual as folks scurry in like black friday to get their apps out.

JohnPapiomitis

Like the other guys said, December is really a bad time to launch an app, especially since your an indie developer. All the review blogs give there focus to the big players, and you'll completely lose some of that hype that otherwise you might have gotten. If you really want to release before it closes though, the review times are actually a little quicker than usual because they have more staff during this time. So you should only expect to wait about a week for the app to get reviewed. Good luck with sales!

John

LooseMoose

Thanks for all the info guys, very helpful. Just one more question:

If an app was processed to the app store for sale on the 20th of December, Would the app get a whole week at the top of the recently added section over Christmas? Which could give it some good publicity?

I know it's a long shot of that happening but I'm just curious. Thanks

RP

It will be in the recently added section maybe a couple hours up to a day (unless you are one of the last apps to get published before iTunes connect closure, but don't gamble on waiting for that). You got to think in layers. Layers stack on top of each other. There will be a metric but-ton of games released and your layer (game) will quickly get buried in the new release section.

If the app is gears of duty or super duper insane original, it will get notoriety and get higher placement into other categories, but even great games need marketing (great marketing for those whom can afford it). This is done BEFORE a game is set to release.

Treat your small scale game dev model akin to the large scale studios and publishers. Note how they release sneak peaks to magazines and websites, followed by a teaser trailer, followed by a gameplay footage. Then they give review sites/mags and media a review copy a week or two before release in conjunction with a big marketing add push.

Use facebook and create a page for your game. And one for your studio.

Use youtube to create sneak peaks, trailers and gameplay footage.

Use review sites (mobile gaming in particular) there are lists made in threads in these forums).

There are other venues, but if you are just starting, this will actually be the best way to start and do a shakedown so you can perfect your creation-to-release model.